Former WA senator Rod Culleton referred to Federal police by Australian Electoral Commission

Rod Culleton's political career is over after the High Court ruled he was ineligible to be a member of Parliament.

The West Australian

VideoRod Culleton's political career is over after the High Court ruled he was ineligible to be a member of Parliament.

Former One Nation senator Rod Culleton has been referred to the Australian Federal Police after he nominated to contest the 2019 Federal Election.

The Australian Electoral Commission says it has asked police to examine if Mr Culleton has made a false declaration on his nomination form for the West Australian Senate ballot paper.

In an extraordinary public statement on Wednesday, the AEC said it lacked the power to stop Mr Culleton submitting a candidate nomination form for the 2019 election, but he was listed as an undischarged bankrupt so he should be disqualified from sitting as a Senator.

Mr Culleton entered Federal Parliament at the 2016 Election as a West Australian Senator for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.

However, he soon fell out with Ms Hanson and quit One Nation to become an independent.

Months later he was declared bankrupt by the Federal Court over a $280,000 debt to a Perth businessman, and a few months after that the High Court disqualified him from the Federal Senate and a recount was ordered of the 2016 ballot papers.

His Senate spot was handed to his brother-in-law, Peter Georgiou, who remains One Nation’s West Australian Senator.

Mr Culleton has repeatedly rejected the reasons for his expulsion from Parliament.

On his current nomination form, he has listed his occupation as “senator in exile.”

On Wednesday, the AEC said Mr Culleton was currently listed as an undischarged bankrupt on the National Personal Insolvency Index.

“Given Mr Culleton’s prior disqualification by the High Court, the AEC has referred Mr Culleton’s candidate nomination form to the Australian Federal Police to examine if a false declaration has been made under the provisions of the Criminal Code Act 1995, relating to his status as an undischarged bankrupt,” it said.

However, it also said despite Mr Culleton’s referral to the AFP his name would still appear on Western Australia’s Senate ballot paper in the 2019 Federal Election.